First Position

First Position is a new ballet documentary that follows six young dancers on their way to one of the world's most prestigious youth ballet competitions. The ballet world, although beautiful, can be so brutal. It's amazing how hard even the youngest children work! Have you ever danced? Will you see it?

P.S. More ballet, and documentaries...

Wine documentary

This soon-to-be-released documentary looks amazing: Somm is the story of four sommeliers attempting to pass the Master Sommelier exam, a grueling test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. The exam covers literally anything having to do with wine, including history, geography and blind tastings. The four guys, who have been preparing for years, say that they're truly obsessed, and you can feel their athlete-like tension on the screen. What a fascinating peek into a competitive, high-brow world that most people never see. Would you watch this?

P.S. The 10 best documentaries, and the dos and don'ts of drinking wine.

(Thanks, Michelle)

I Believe I Can Fly

Have you guys seen this astounding trailer for I Believe I Can Fly, a 40-minute documentary about a group of insane French guys? They created "skylining," a new European sport that combines tightrope walking, slacklining and base jumping. They walk tightropes across skyscrapers in Paris, gorges in southern France and fjords in Norway. They do cartwheels right off mountains. They're caught by safety ropes or parachutes--although at the end, one guy does a spine-tingling "solo" without any safety equipment, just himself, balancing on a one-inch rope. YIKES!

P.S. Ten best documentaries.

Elmo documentary

Every child I know has an joyous reaction to Elmo. My friend's baby's first word was "Elmo." Toby's all-time favorite book stars Elmo. My friend's two-year-old once sat in his stroller and just gazed at an Elmo cake in a bakery window. It's fascinating to see what a rock star (and best friend) Elmo is to children.

Being Elmo is a new, award-winning documentary about the puppeteer who created Elmo. The trailer made me tear up; "I knew that Elmo should represent love," Clash said.

Will you see it? Do your little ones adore Elmo, too?
P.S. 10 best documentaries.

A new documentary

Love, Etc. is a new documentary that follows five couples for one year in New York City: old, young, gay, straight, falling in love, getting married, having babies, breaking up. The film showed the complexities of romantic love--not just the happy stuff of Disney movies. I watched it this week and adored it. It was funny, heartbreaking and beautiful. Here's the trailer...

What do you think, my darlings? Would you want to see it? (Here are show times.)

P.S. 10 best documentaries.

(Via Glamour)

Ten best documentaries

Do you guys ever watch documentaries? My friend Scott and I have a monthly documentary club, and I thought I'd share ten of my favorites that we've seen over the past couple years. I'd highly recommend them all...

Surfwise tells the story of the Paskowitz couple, who drops off the grid to drive their nine kids around in a camper and surf all day.
Food, Inc. examines the American food industry and corporate farms. Not for the squeamish! (P.S. We've bought only organic meat and dairy since watching this.)
My Kid Could Paint That looks at the runaway success of a four-year-old girl whose paintings are compared to Picasso. But is she the real artist?
Man on Wire is a documentary about a wild French tightrope walker and his jaw-dropping (illegal) stunts.
Mad Hot Ballroom follows an adorable group of New York City fifth graders taking a ballroom dance program.
Deep Water tells the gripping story of an amateur sailor who (insanely) enters a solo race around the world.
Seven Up is a series of incredibly compelling documentaries that have tracked the lives of fourteen English schoolchildren since 1964, when they were seven years old. Every seven years, the filmmaker releases a new documentary that checks in on their increasingly varied lives. (They're now 53!)
American Teen follows five high-school seniors--a jock, princess, heart-throb, geek and misfit--in a small Indiana town.
Autism: The Musical chronicles five autistic children as they rehearse for a musical production.
Stranded lets the survivors of the famous 1972 Andes plane crash tell their story of survival.

(Plus, of course, the new Babies!)

Have you seen any other good documentaries? I'd love to hear!

Surfwise

This week, Alex and I watched Surfwise, which tells the story of Dorian Paskowitz and his wife Juliette, who drove their nine children around in a camper and made them surf all day. It was a surprising and thought-provoking film, and I'd put it up there with Deep Water, Man on Wire and American Teen as one of the best documentaries in recent years. Have you seen it?